As athleisure clothing continues its insidious takeover of the global wardrobe, people are struggling with the etiquette around how and whether to wear workout gear when we’re not working out.
A video of a Tennessee woman taking on the question, “Are leggings pants?” posted on Oct. 15 on Facebook has now been viewed there more than 13 million times. No, she said, they aren’t, and added that leggings require a long shirt to “make sure your tail is covered.”
The men of television channel Fox News, not satisfied with this verdict, took it upon themselves to further investigate and debate the topic on Fox & Friends this morning, Oct. 27.
Rather than asking, say, a person who designs leggings, or a stylist, or a rep from a company like Lululemon, or even just a woman who wears leggings, the show called upon a panel that included Andrew Sansone (husband of Fox anchor Julie Banderas), Fox News legal analyst Arthur Aidala, and reality show Duck Dynasty protagonist Willie Robertson.
“Are you comfortable with the women in your life parading in public in leggings?” host Steve Doocy asked the panel. Robertson started by talking about how his daughters wore longer shirts with their leggings to “cover up the lady parts.” After further discussion of what was appropriate for the men’s daughters and wives, three grown women in leggings were paraded out for judgement by the all-male panel.
Each panelist gleefully weighed in on the women’s bodies and attire, concluding that one woman had ”earned” the right to wear leggings, another was only appropriate for the gym, and another simply: “We will validate your parking.”